Guest reviews Sandals Ochi Beach Resort

by HLAZD Atlanta, Georgia

Run far and fast!

Our actual stay is July 4 to 11 2020. (We are going for a family wedding). This is our first trip and I was excited and I'm not anymore...we haven't even made it to Sandals yet and I am not impressed. Our initial resort was Sandals Southcoast, however due to covid-19 we were moved to Montego Bay on June 11 2020. I'm not upset about the move...I'm upset about how it's been handled. At Southcoast we were in a basic beach front walk out suite (specifically because we wanted the first floor)...when we called sandals regarding the move we were put in a 2nd floor concierge gbt room and told the difference would be taken care of. The agent told me she sent an email to accounting to zero out the difference. We were put in the gbt room as it was the "price comparable room" to our original Southcoast room and the only left (supposedly). We really wanted the swim out lagoon room and were willing to pay a small difference but told it was unavailable. Well when we checked online the swim out room was available. After 2 phone calls we were able to get upgraded to the swimout room for a small fee, (that fee was the difference between the swimout and gbt room according to sandals website) and still told the difference from gbt and Southcoat original would be credited. A week later I check my credit card statement and I've been charged the difference in the rooms, after we have paid the swimout upgrade fee!! I call Sandals to dispute the charge, I'm told a supervisor will call me back in 72 hours, and they don't. I call back on the 4th day and am transferred to a supervisor to be told an investigation has to be opened and phone calls have to be reviewed. So I still don't have the difference back! At this point I am at least 3 phone calls in and 3 hours of phone time in and I am beyond annoyed and frustrated. I fail to see how Sandals has been the number one resort for 11 years running because they definitely don't know their right from their left or how to communicate or solve a problem. None of the agents seems to have properly documented anything in the notes, or we have gotten conflicting stories about the notes and lastly we didn't choose to move resorts...Sandals moved us...and they seem to not be understanding that!! After this trip and this hassle I have NO desire to go back!

by PTree034 Saco, Maine

Honeymoon Nightmare!

Where do I begin with this review!? Homophobic, Rude, Disgusting, Cheap, Inconvenient, Overpriced and so much more - and I'm being kind! My husband and I were married for 24 hours when we decided to land in this horrible Country. Granted, I should have done the research I did a few hours after we got there - I take responsibility for that. But the way we were treated and the conditions of the resort were outrageous. Having specified we were both men in my reservations (that were made through sandals.com) they should have known this. We were Mr and Mrs the ENTIRE TIME - and we are both clearly the stereotype of a "man" as we are both men. It was so embarrassing at checkin to be called Mr and Mrs when they were the ones that picked us up and bussed us in. The lounge at the airport and the "butlers lounge" at the resort were musty, stained and gross. We were greeted promptly and taken to our room by one of our two butlers. I have no desire to name names.. Our "villa" was located far from everything up on a hill which required the butler to drive a gas powered golf cart up to the room every time we wanted to leave. We could have walked but couple the walk with waiting for the bus (that takes you off the resort onto a public street to get to the "beach side" of the resort), taking the bus then getting to the other side it would take 45 mins. The Villa itself resembled a 20+ year old room with a sofa I didn't even want to sit on. The bathroom was very simple without a soaking tub. The bed was fine but there were divots on the wall from the bed post slamming against the area (for years and years) from (use your imagination). The carpet was gross, and the layout was strange - we were thankful to have A/C. We had upper respiratory symptoms the entire week as I'm sure the air filters were disgusting. Our first butler was fine, the first night we wanted to stay in the room as it was late in the day and raining so he took our dinner orders. While he was texting the day butler our breakfast order I looked at his phone and she texted back "Another man couple???" - this gave us a horrible feeling.. The food came and was a C- at best. In the morning our next butler arrived and she was more pleasant. She took us on a tour of the resort and instructed us on how to use the cell phone to get in touch with them. She could tell we were terrified and asked us if everything is ok. We said everything was fine because when you are in a country like Jamaica (and you are gay and on your honeymoon) you DO NOT say anything off color. You have no idea what could be done to your food and drink. The tipping policy is LUDICROUS!! Why Sandals WHY CAN'T YOU TIP THESE PEOPLE!? Luxury included!?!? What a JOKE! I can only imagine what these employees are paid. They only people that were pleasant to interact with were the butlers and we are allowed to tip them. Some guests tip, some don't. Some employees take the tips, some don't. They HORRIFY their employees with the fear of being fired over accepting tips. Tips are what make people want to be excellent at what they do! I tried to tip and it was such an odd experience my husband asked me to stop. The employees are completely miserable! The staff (aside from the butlers) were so SO off-putting. We were laughed at, ignored, staff rolled their eyes at us - you name it. Bartenders ignored us at the small pool/beach bar and were horrible in their body language. The beach chairs were gross and falling apart. Music was blaring at 11am at the beach with no one dancing - enjoying the music or relaxing. They have massive red Sandals signs screwed into the sides of the hills and mountains (to remind us we were in hell). The drinks were so weak and poor tasting (how you mess up a vodka soda I'll never know). We were ignored by resort photographers. There were staff members trying to sell us bottles of wine at 2pm at the pool because our butlers tipped them off that we had reservations at the Italian restaurant (it was completely disgusting by the way). I said to the guy "How could I know what wine I want to drink at 2pm in the afternoon for dinner when I haven't even seen a menu?" He laughed and said "I guess that's right." They were trying to sell us another vacation the entire time. Every single day when we returned to our room there was a lame brochure waiting for us. We WILL NEVER vacation with Sandals again. We went to the speakeasy one night and the staff thought we were "shoppers" trying to bust them over tipping.. My husband has an insulin pump and they thought it was a "wire" - I wish I was making this up!! Of course when they questioned us we were actually having a good time. They put a stop to that! We went to the spa for overpriced really subpar massages - when we left the obviously gay 20 something kid at the register again called us Mr and Mrs, we could not believe it. Honestly I'm getting sick of reliving this horrible trip so I'll end with this.. It was the worst trip we have ever been on. This is a third world country with a third world way of thinking about the world and those that live in it. It was the most expensive trip we have ever taken and honestly we should have been paid to spend any amount of time there. We needed to pep ourselves up every day to even leave the room! The food was gross, the employees were terrible, the room was gross, the drinks were bad, the shows were laughable they were so poor. We could NOT WAIT TO LEAVE - in fact we looked into it on day three as my husband was in tears. My advice is to go anywhere else in the Caribbean. I've been to many many of the islands and have never experienced what we experienced at Ochi. Sandals is a complete joke! What you see on television is NOT what you get unless you are spending $10,000USD+ for the week. They should be ashamed to treat people this way! Completely poor, if I could give zero stars I would!

by Aesquires1

Couldn’t wait to leave

Not impressed with the butlers we had. One was off sick and we barely saw the other one. This is a party resort, don’t expect to be able to sit by a pool / beach without extremely rubbish very, very loud music blasting in your ears. Ok so there is one tiny pool that is quiet, but it’s in the shade and freezing cold. Room shabby. Food pretty average other than Soy which is fab. Very loud drunk young Americans everyone. Couples resort???? Nope! Wedding parties and work groups, not couples, partying. The staff are amazing though.

by 10taylort

Butlers Richard and Jeremy

Richard and Jeremy were fantastic! We first visited Ochi for our honeymoon and had such a great experience we decided to come back. We even requested to have the same Butlers because they were so great. Richard and Jeremy took care of anything and everything we couldve imagined and made our stay something we will never forget. We HIGHLY recommend Richard and Jeremy they are so friendly and made our trip completely stress free! They also make the best drinks! We could not have asked for better service and would highly recommend Richard and Jeremy to anyone visiting. We cant wait to see them again!

by PetePortland_OR Portland, OR

Fantastic Trip to Jamaica!

Traveled to Sandals Ochi November 2019. Cleaned my purse just now and found a list of names of some of the people that made our stay magnificent in Jamaica! Right off the bat there was a little misunderstanding in the reservation when we arrived. The concierge, I so wish that I remembered his name, was excellent in sorting through everything. Ultimately we ended up with a better room so close to the lobby. We had multiple occasions to speak with the concierge, different people, and it was ALWAYS so positive! I was directed to an excellent pool to swim my laps. Almost no one ventured there....had terrific workouts day after day. The Southern Buffet was wonderful....I have to say thank you to Letman and Kemar for their excellent service! The spa was so much fun! Had two young ladies working on me....had delightful conversation about Jesus!! Thank you to Reuben, Trecia, Ruth Ann and JNicole. There was precious young woman that cleaned our room..Tanjay?? It was a name that I am unfamiliar with..precious woman. So blessed to meet her. So many dear people that served us so beautifully....the sushi was amazing, loved the ox tail. The singers...WOW!!! The woman singer, don't remember her name, looked a little bit like Diana Ross....amazing! The young man vocalist could win American Idol. His vocal range was off the chart! What delightful entertainers. All and all we had a marvelous time!